Category: post

Typerighter is a new application that I have been testing for a while. As the developer is a close personal friend of mine and willing to listen to my, um, gentle persuasion, I have been giving active feedback since the very beginning and I hope you, like I, will find it the perfect web based writing tool.

My favorite feature is it’s complete lack of features. The only visible feature is a blank page and the occasional “save” that happens automatically. That’s it, one feature.

OK, l lied. But not completely. It has more features but the rest of the “features” are completely hidden.

Want to save your file as plain text? No problem. Just type “.txt” at the end of the url.

Oh, you write in Markdown and wish there was a way to convert it to valid HTML without an extra step? No problem, just type “.html” at the end of the URL.

Oh, and if you are a paid user, you get nifty things like your own user space and being able to create a filename URL by typing http://username.typerighter.com/filename and you will always be able to access your document directly at that address.

So yes, it has a few features but none of them, ever, get between you and that blank page. The way a writing app should be.

And, it works in the browser so, you know, everywhere is disco. iPad? Disco. iPhone? Hustle! Heck, throw it on your Chromebook.

I’m using it to write this letter. I drafted an essay of my book using it (on my iPad, naturally). It’s really neat. I keep it open in a browser window with a page I have set as my scratchpad. I can type a quick note in there if I’m working in Safari and not break my stride too much.

To get the extra goodness a personal Typerighter domain provides, and to support independent development, I recommend you pay the current $5.00+ cost. Because, you see, that cost increases by one cent for each person who signs up. So getting in now gets you the best price. But, you don’t have to pay to use it. Just use the “Try it out” link at the bottom of the sign up page and use it for as long as you wish.

Seriously, I hope you love this thing as much as I do. Just head on over to https://typerighter.com/ and play with it for a bit. Like I said, my good friend Garrick van Buren is the developer and he would love your feedback. Make any feature request you want as long as it can be completely invisible ;-).

each morning
I awake
to the sound 
of the girl
at the end 
of the hall

the sun is on
she tells me
though it’s not
not this early
or this late
in the fall

she believes
she sees light
which is enough
for me to rise
and respond
to her call

what matters
more than sleep
is these mornings
while she 
is still
so very small

in life
with a child
you have only
a handful of suns
either real or imagined
that is all

If you have been reading this site or listened to the Enough podcast for long enough, you know I’m always trying crazy experiments. Like going a week without things I use or writing a book on my iPad. Ask me on almost any day and I have some sort of insane idea I’m trying out. My latest seems to have attracted more attention than I ever thought it would.
On a recent episode of the podcast, I discussed a plan for yet another crazy experiment. – To reduce my Mac to the out of the box install and limit myself to only five third party apps and utilities (feel free to listen). The reason? Well, it is the same as any other crazy experiment I do: It’s an attempt to find what is “Enough” for me. That tricky and ever shifting balance between want and need. I want to explore these things for myself in the hopes it will inspire others to do the same.
In everything I do and try to communicate here, what matters is that I am not only asking the question, “What is enough?” but I am actively seeking answers.
All. The. Time.
The thing about that answer is that the only person that can answer it correctly is the person who is living it. In other words, I can’t tell you what is enough for you. You have to ask and answer what is enough for you. I can only tell you what is enough for me. I can only explain how I went about discovering that answer for myself in the hopes it will give you a potential path, of which there may be many, to the answer that is right for you.
So, why five apps? Why not ten? Twenty? Well, let me tell you a little secret…
It’s a MacGuffin. Which, according to the canonical authoritative source of all truth and knowledge, Wikipedia, is:

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is “a plot element that catches the viewers’ attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction”. The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.

OK. Understood? Great. But I want to highlight one specific part again as it relates to my point:

In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot.

In the case of almost every experiment I do, there is a MacGuffin that fits this description. In the case of “A week without…” the MacGuffin is the week itself. The important part is that I’m actively trying to evaluate not only my need and use of a thing but also its value to me and where it fits in my life. In the case of writing a book on my iPad, the MacGuffin was the iPad. I mean, I could have chosen any tool to replace the way I commonly would write a book – my iPhone, pen and paper, etc. The reason was simply the inherent challenges that may come from doing so and to evaluate if the tool was better for me than the one I would normally use.
In the particular case of my “Five apps” experiment, it is the number is that MacGuffin. The number is unimportant. I could have chosen any number of apps. It does not matter. What does matter is that I am asking a question about what enough is for me when it comes to the things I have chosen to install on my Mac and am seeking an answer.
The theme here is that everyone has a balance that works for them. I’m actively seeking mine. If I wish to inspire anything at all in doing this, it is that others actively seek what is the proper balance for them. You should ask and answer what is enough for you. I’m only here to help. But, please, do not get hung up on the MacGuffin or you may very well miss the point and be left with more questions than answers.

Beatrix |ktfdn|referrer|arryf
came home from school a couple of days ago and demanded… Demanded!… To watch Star Wars. At first, I wondered at what point she even became aware of it and if she knew what it was about. So I asked.

She explained, “It’s about that Princess with her hair all done up like this (makes twirly motion with her pointer fingers around her head) and the little green man that protects her from the bad guys.”

Of course. I should have known.

According |ynkez|referrer|ttefd
to lore, they have to be invited in. Within the sacred space of your home, they can not harm you. They can not suck one drop of your precious life-giving blood unless you open the door and invite them past your threshold. If your time, your attention, and your purpose are not the very essence of what life is, then what is? If where you commit your time, attention, and purpose is not sacred space, then why isn’t it? And if those items that seek to take from those things are not vampires, then what are they? Most importantly, why are you inviting them in?

“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”

– Henry David Thoreau in Walden

Please forgive the repetition, but this has been on my mind lately. Namely, what are my three chairs? Is three chairs a reasonable and good sensible default for ones own approach to digital communication?

I don’t assume I have any right answer to those questions. That said, I have some ideas surrounding them.

Solitude

This could be any for working with ones dialog with self. This could take the form of a paper or digital journal, diary, etc. Those that are familiar with The Artists Way would have this with morning pages. Digitally, projects and services like OhLife and 750 Words might be good. Or local applications like MacJournal. Some may find this reflection and introspection simply with writing to plain text files. Regardless, I think it essential to external communications to first foster a healthy and regular internal one, no matter how one achieves it.

Friendship

This is one to one. It is interpersonal and private by default. Digitally, email would fit this idea. As would instant messaging, SMS, or even a phone call. It is dialog between two people. Unguarded and non-judgmental. It is an open exchange. A honest sharing. The opportunity for back and forth.

Society

This is where a social network may fit in. A forum would fit here as well. Even a blog with comments and an active and engaged readership might fit. The idea is that it should be productive dialog between a limited many. Greater than one-to-one but not so many that the conversation becomes noise and ideas are lost.

What are your three chairs?

The challenge, of course, is to use this as a healthy constraint. To choose three chairs that you are comfortable with and abandon or, at least, greatly decrease the use of others. To let others know of your choice where appropriate. For instance, “I prefer contact via email” or “I’m on Twitter and not on any other social network.” And even then, to have a clear intention about how and when you wish to use those chairs and with whom.

I would also like to think that balance is important here as well. That spending too much time in any one chair adversely affects the others. That the health of our internal dialog reflects well on when engaging our friends and society. That, equally true, the quality of those external engagements feed the quality of the internal. Therefore, choosing each chair with care and purpose is not to be taken lightly.

So, I’ve taken up running again after a break this summer. I feel bad for taking the break but I’m one of those people who sweat profusely when exerting even the tiniest of effort anytime the temp is above 75 degrees. About the only thing I hate more than sweating is heat so, there lies the reason (excuse) for the break.

That said, one of the reasons I love running is that it is one of the few ultimate minimalist sports. Assuming you have use of your legs, you literally have everything you need to do so. You don’t need any further equipment to run. You don’t even need clothing. You might get funny looks or arrested running naked and barefoot but that does not mean you can’t.

That said, it does help at least a bit to have the right gear. Because I have had a few people ask (or give me their opinions) I thought I would mention what I use, why, and how I’m getting back into the running game.

For shoes, I swear by my Newton Momentum trainers. These are designed to be used with the Natural Running technique developed by the company’s founder and outlined in his book of the same name (on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/nzkrTr and highly recommended). Also good for those that use the Chi running technique. These are light, strong, and allow for a feel similar to what one would get running barefoot. Plus, you get less comments on the loud colors than you would wearing crazy looking Vibram Five-Fingers.

I chose an all-terrain shoe because I knew when I got them last year that there was still plenty of winter yet and that means running in ice and snow.

For clothing I have a bunch of Nike Dri-Fit hand me downs from a friend who shrank out of the larger size thanks to his regimen. No matter how you feel about big corporate Nike, the quality, look and design (i.e. how it works) is impressive. That said, I’ll need to stock up on some cooler weather gear soon and will likely branch out to other brands if I find good deals.

Getting back into running, I’m using the official Couch-to-5k program from Coolrunning. Though I have had previous running experience, I have found this program to be good for forming a running habit which is really the first goal. I fell out of mine so I need to develop that again.

I’m also using the official Couch-to-5k iPhone app to prompt me and track my progress. Finding it good in actual use so far even if the interface leaves a lot to be desired.

Finally, someone asked what I was using for headphones and if I use a band for my iPhone.

For headphones, I use the Sennheiser PX 200-II i which I purchased based on a recommendation post from Marco Arment. They are fantastic. Lightweight, sound great, with excellent sound insulation.

For the iPhone, I just hold my iPhone. Clench it in one hand. Which may be insane but it works for me for now.

I share such moments with my daughter too often to count. She and I crowded around an iPhone, an iPad, an iMac. Watching movies, dancing to music, learning, growing.
Without his vision, none of these moments would exist the way they do today.
Thank you, Steve Jobs, for each moment like this.

Earlier this evening, when Beatrix arrived home from a play date, she bounded enthusiastically through the door as usual and wrapped her arms around me. My wife, having heard the news, told Beatrix “You should give Daddy an extra big hug.”
“Why do you need an extra big hug Daddy? What happened?”
“I lost a good friend, honey. He died.”
“Why he died?”
“Sometimes people get sick. Too sick to keep living. So sometimes they die.”
She leaned back in my arms. Took a good look at my face. Caressed it on either side with both hands. Then threw her arms around me and squeezed me long and tight. Into my ear she whispered, “I’ll be your friend. I won’t died.”
She is insanely great.

Many regular readers know that, when it comes to simplicity and clutter, my wife is quite my opposite. Her idea of organization is generally to sort piled things into more piles. These piles then sit right where they are waiting for something to happen and that something is generally a mystery that results in nothing happening. Then, there is also the matter of a three year old little girl who’s belongings are strewn about as well and… Well…

Thus, it is not unusual for one to walk into the home of Mr. Minimal Mac and find things not so minimal at all. 

That said, it is a real struggle for for me that I largely keep inside. Because, getting any cognitive or creative work done in such environs is very difficult for me. I have become pretty good at ignoring it for a time or finding a little spot in the house where I can keep some semblance of order (or ignorance). But, even that becomes beset on all sides and impossible to contain eventually.

It is at this point where I finally snap, reach a fever pitch, and spend all night cleaning. This happened just this past Saturday night. After a long day out and about and a very enjoyable evening with friends I came home and realized that I could not even answer a single email, let alone start another full week, with the clutter that had slowly begun to consume every surface. And since the burden appears to be one I bear alone in my household it is generally I who must lay said burdens down and put them in their proper places.

Now, to those in a similar situation as mine, please keep in mind that to those others in our life, the clutter may have cognitive value to them in the same way simplicity and order do for you. For instance, those piles may represent a sense of belonging and place to them. Seeing all this stuff they have makes them feel comfort in knowing it is not lost or missing. It actually may be a representation of how productive they are. So productive in other areas of life that they don’t have the time to clean and organize. It may also be overwhelming to them as well, so much so that they are paralyzed by it. 

All I’m saying here is that our goal of uncluttered simplicity is likely just as strange and wrong and foreign to those who are the opposite as they are to us. Compassion and acceptance are required on both sides. The (often imperfect) path I attempt is to allow my wife to see that it is I who is willing to take responsibility and ownership for my needs in this area, doing the work to see that those needs are met, while allowing her to be who she is without judgment.

This is not always easy, I know. I struggle with it daily. Then again, are these things ever easy? Perhaps they should not be. The work is proof of it’s continued worth. And, she is worth so much to me that such work seems like a bargain.